Abstemious Kalousek

The big unanswered question in current Czech society isn't whether the flood cleanup will boost the economy, but rather whether Miroslav Kalousek's vow to stay off the bottle will send the economy into a deeper tailspin. Kalousek apologized late last week for appearing in the media while drunk and insisted that it wouldn't happen again. This is a real pity, because there is empirical evidence to show that at least a few tenths of a percent are added to GDP every year by politicians who are in a near-continuous state of tipsiness. And when they knock down two drinks and get "knocked out" the way Kalousek did last week, they help the economy even more by becoming too incapacitated to make any bad decisions about our money. When they then go on the air in such a state and entertain everyone, they stimulate economic growth by boosting the ad revenue of Facebook and other media companies. The CR's spirits makers are still reeling from last year's methanol affair; the last thing they need now is for Kalousek to go cold turkey.